Twelve Strokes

1. I loved you once, silently, without hope. I endured both shyness and jealousy. I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly. May God grant that someone else love you as I did.

-- Pushkin, "I Loved You"

2. Lianzhi sometimes envied people who were cheerful and outgoing. She was insecure and awkward, and thought that if only she had been a little braver, perhaps things might have turned out differently.

Later, when she heard that he was getting married, Lianzhi buried herself in overtime to numb her feelings. Then she ran into him in the elevator, and an accident trapped them inside.

If you had no next second, what would you do? In a moment of madness, she kissed Zhu Chengjie.

Later, the elevator was fixed, and they made it out alive, but Lianzhi regretted what she'd done. She took a day off, slept until evening, then went out to pick up her takeout and saw him waiting downstairs, beside his car, with cigarette butts scattered all over the ground.

"I'm here to get an explanation," he said.

A ten-year age gap.

A heartwarming story.

Theme: Accept yourself and embrace life.